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The Punisher (2004 film)
The Punisher is a 2004 American action crime thriller film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, starring Thomas Jane as the antihero Frank Castle/The Punisher and John Travolta as Howard Saint, a money launderer who orders the death of Castle's entire family. Plot A smuggling operation in Tampa Bay results in the deaths of Bobby Saint, the son of mafia boss Howard Saint, and Otto Krieg, the arms dealer. Krieg is revealed to be undercover FBI agent and Delta Force veteran5 Frank Castle on his final mission before retirement. Enraged over the death of his son, Howard Saint acquires confidential information regarding Krieg and learns of his true identity. He orders Castle killed at a family reunion, while his wife Livia requests that his family be killed as well. At the reunion, Saint's men, among them Quentin Glass and Bobby's identical twin, John, kill Castle's entire family and shoot Castle, leaving him for dead. Castle survives and is nursed back to health by a local fisherman. With the police and FBI unwilling to pursue the killers due to Saint's power and influence, Castle moves into an abandoned apartment occupied by three outcasts, Joan, Bumpo and Dave, and begins his mission to bring the Saints down. With information provided by Mickey Duka, one of Saint's more benevolent and disgruntled associates, Castle studies the Saint family and learns their every move, in the process discovering Glass to be a closeted homosexual. He openly attacks Saint's business and sabotages his partnership with his Cuban partners. Saint discovers Castle is alive and sends assassins to kill him. The first, Harry Heck, ambushes Castle on a bridge but is killed when Castle slits his throat with a ballistic knife. The second, a Russian behemoth, nearly beats Castle to death in his own apartment. Castle kills him by dousing his face in boiling oil and pushing him down a flight of stairs, breaking his neck. John, Glass and the goons arrive for Castle. The tenants hide Castle and refuse to disclose his location, despite Glass pulling Dave's piercings out with pliers. They leave one of their men to intercept Castle, but Castle kills him after they leave. With Mickey's help, Castle arranges for Glass to be at certain places posing as an anonymous blackmailer while planting Livia's car in the same location, and ultimately placing one of Livia's earrings in Glass's bed, leading Saint to believe they are having an affair. Saint confronts and kills Glass in his own home by stabbing him to death, and throws Livia onto a railroad, where she is run over by a train. With Saint despondent, Castle assaults Saint's club and kills every last member of his mob, among them John, though Saint, wounded, escapes. Castle pursues him and shoots him in a duel. As Saint lies dying, Castle reveals his schemes that led Saint to kill his friend and wife, and ties him to a car leading to a car park laced with explosives. Saint dies in the subsequent explosion. Castle returns home and prepares to kill himself with his mission fulfilled, but sees a vision of his wife and changes his mind, instead deciding to continue to fight crime as the Punisher. He leaves some of Saint's money as a farewell gift to the tenants for protecting him. The film ends with Castle standing alone on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, as he vows, "Those who do evil to others...the killers, the rapists, psychos, sadists...you will come to know me well. Frank Castle is dead. Call me...The Punisher". Cast * Thomas Jane as Frank Castle/The Punisher * John Travolta as Howard Saint * Will Patton as Quentin Glass * Rebecca Romijn as Joan * Ben Foster as Dave * John Pinette as Bumbo * Samantha Mathis as Maria Elizabeth Castle * Marcus Johns as Will Castle * A. Russell Andrews as Jimmy Weeks * James Carpinello as Bobby and John Saint * Laura Harring as Livia Saint * Eddie Jemison as Mickey Duka * Eduardo Yanez as Mike Toro * Omar Aliva as Joe Toro * Kevin Nash as The Russian * Mark Collie as Harry Heck * Roy Scheider as Frank Castle, Sr * Tom Nowicki as Lincoln * Veryl Jones as Candelaria * Marco St. John as Chief Morris * Hank Stone as Cutter Sequel The Punisher was followed by a sequel: Punisher: War Zone (2008) Gallery Trivia Category:The Punisher Films Category:Marvel Category:2004